Organizers Tout Global Anti-War Protest

With speeches, songs and poems, peace activists geared up Friday for what they hope will be huge demonstrations against war in Iraq.

Organizers of a march in London, who aim to blunt Prime Minister Tony Blair's strong support for an aggressive U.S. policy, hoped that more than 500,000 people would participate in one of the biggest protest gatherings planned around the world.

"We are all set. We finished the placards _ 2,000 of them," said Tony Myers of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Sue Longbottom, the designer, showed off a stack of leaflets and stickers that read: "No War On Iraq."

Sam Akaki was on the telephone with members of Parliament, pressing them to attend Saturday's demonstration in London's Hyde Park, where speakers will include Jesse Jackson, Bianca Jagger and leftist former lawmaker Tony Benn, who recently met Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

"It's going to be a fantastic day, with blue sky," said Andrew Burgin of the Stop the War Coalition as he helped erect the stage and two large screens in Hyde Park. Organizers hoped to have a satellite link with fellow protesters in Europe.

About 70 singers, including performers from the shows "Les Miserables," "Chicago," "Rent," "The Lion King" and "Taboo," took to the stage Friday at the Criterion Theatre in central London to sing "Seasons Of Love," from "Rent."

Poetry readings and speeches were planned Friday night.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected at protests around the world.

Getting an early start, at least 150,000 people packed the streets of Melbourne, Australia, on Friday to protest any war on Iraq, to which Australia has already committed 2,000 troops.

An estimated 6,000 people joined a protest march Friday night in Tokyo, and a similar number marched to the U.S. Embassy in the Philippine capital, Manila.

Up to 500 protesters demonstrated peacefully in Sarajevo, Bosnia's shell-scarred capital. Carrying banners reading "Disarm U.S.A!" and "OILympic Games!" the protesters marched in the frigid winter air to the U.S. Embassy, where they stood quietly for half an hour.

The three main organizers of London's march _ the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain _ predicted it would outstrip the anti-war march last autumn in which 400,000 people took part.

A march in Glasgow, Scotland, was to converge on a Labor Party conference in time for Prime Minister Tony Blair's speech.

The anti-war demonstration has not only irked the British government but also Iraqi opposition groups who hope to unseat Saddam.

Ahmed Agha Chalabi, human rights coordinator of the opposition Iraqi National Congress in London, accused protesters of aiming to prolong "the life of Saddam and extending the misery of the Iraqi people." He said only war would end Saddam's repression.

"We all have families in Iraq. If anyone is killed it won't be a cousin or relative of a demonstrator, but ours," said Chalabi.

Myers, a 20-year member of the anti-nuclear campaign, said it was the first time the group had marched against a Labor Party government.

"I never thought that leaders of Germany and France would be speaking for the people of Britain," Myers said.

Blair has been President Bush's strongest supporter in his threats to go to war with Iraq if Saddam Hussein does not get rid of his weapons of mass destruction. A British government spokesman said Friday the way to prevent war was for Saddam to cooperate with U.N. inspectors.